Sir John Quick (1852-1932)
Member for Bendigo (Victoria) 1901-1913
B orn near St Ives, Cornwall, England,
John Quick migrated to Victoria with
his family in 1854 and settled on the Bendigo
Quick was knighted for his outstanding
contribution to federation on
1 January 1901.
goldfield. Obliged to work to help his family
from the age of ten, Quick was a manual In 1901 Quick was elected unopposed to the
labourer before becoming a reporter for House of Representatives for the federal seat
Bendigo newspapers. He was later on the of Bendigo. Although clearly a Protectionist,
parliamentary staff of the Melbourne Age. Quick maintained his independence in the
Quick graduated from Melbourne University Parliament, putting national interests before
in 1877 and the following year was admitted party interests. He chaired the Royal
to the Bar. He was elected to the Victorian Commission on the Commonwealth Tariff
Legislative Assembly as the member for 1905-07, and was Postmaster-General in
Sandhurst in 1880 and two years later was the Deakin ministry of 1909-10. Quick was
awarded his doctorate in law. defeated in the election of 1913.
Quick played an important role in the In 1901 Quick, together with Robert Garran,
federation of the Australian colonies. had published the authoritative Annotated
He attended federation conventions at Corowa Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth.
and Bathurst, and it was his proposal that set Following his retirement from Federal
the framework for the election of delegates Parliament, Quick returned to his legal
to the Australasian Federal Convention of practice in Bendigo, and wrote a number of
1897-98, the consideration of a Constitution influential works on Australian law. Between
Bill, and the submission of the Bill to 1922 and 1930 he was Deputy President of the
referendum. Elected to the 1897-98 Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and
Convention, he was a prominent and vocal Arbitration.
member of the Constitutional Committee.
The electorate of Bendigo was named after its locality. The name Bendigo is thought to have
derived from the name adopted by a station-hand who lived in the area. The station-hand
compared himself to a famous English pugilist Abednego William Thompson. This Biblically
derived name got shortened to ‘Bendigo’.